Bungie: Halo on DS pitched to us "several times"

But nothing ever officially sanctioned; however, Bungie appears to be keeping handheld options open

It's the top secret bit of info that's been whispered about in dark alleyways, behind bike sheds and under tables in McDonald's - psssssst, there's a version of Halo being developed for the Nintendo DS.

No such title has ever seen the light of day of course, but Bungie has now revealed that there's an element of truth behind the gossip.

"I believe we got pitched for it several times," Bungie's Frank O'Connor told Siliconera when questioned about there ever being Halo DS.

Brian Gerard from Bungie, also present at the interview, chipped in, "Every once in awhile it comes up. Somebody out there some developer pitches and tries to make it happen."

"It's very likely that somebody at some point in time created a prototype and tried to pitch it," Gerard continued, "But there has never been an officially funded or sanctioned development of any sort of DS Halo game."

But would Bungie like to see or create a Halo game on DS?

"I mean if it wasn't a drain on resources. The problem is the DS is not an FPS console right? It's not an FPS handheld. There really is no such thing. If we did something cool I would like to see it. But I would rather see the Halo IP on any handheld system applied to a different genre because handhelds don't necessarily do FPS well," O'Connor said.

"Maybe a side scrolling shoot-'em-up or whatever, but not necessarily an FPS," he added.